


The Legend of the Five Book One: Training

by I_am_not_yurionice



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Avatar typical violence, F/M, Lance is a waterbender, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pidge as non-bender, Pidge is a badass genius, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Shiro and Keith are bros, Shiro is the Avatar, Shiro was born as an airbender, Slow Burn, avatar AU, earthbender hunk, firebending Keith, klance as the main focus but everyone is important, modern Avatar setting, slight divergence from the Avatar logic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-03 06:02:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10237430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_am_not_yurionice/pseuds/I_am_not_yurionice
Summary: In a Republic of the future, where bending and the Avatar are nothing more than an entertaining relict of the past, Lance thought the whole extent of his problems were how to pay his next rent and his stupidly handsome, too-good-for-you firebending rival in the Arena. When his and his best friend Hunk`s newest quest to acquire money lead them to the start of the unfolding of dark intrigues over the known world, they end up in a far greater adventure than they would have ever dreamed possible for themselves.Keith just wanted a goal in life, an adventure to live. When his brother asks for his support in his mission to rescue the world from its presumably looming doom he doesn`t hesitate to agree. What he didn`t calculate on was that the arrogant, but annoyingly pretty waterbender that made his personal goal to be a royal pain in Keith`s neck, would also be part of said mission. He really started to doubt his trust in Shiro`s Avatar abilities.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome lovelies to the modern Avatar setting no one asked for!
> 
> This is probably going to be a long run, so enjoy your slow burn klance fanfic~

 

“The fuck is wrong with this guy?“

Lance`s voice is going in that unmistakable higher pitch at the end of the sentence, signaling that his temper is starting to run thin. Through his ranting he was steadily getting louder, other people on the street already giving them side-eyes. Hunk all the while just watching on with a slightly crooked smile, sometimes trying to at least pacify his friend with seldom consenting statements and trying to hush the hot-blooded boy next to him with small gestures.

“He even scorched my hair! Can you believe it?! That is going to take forever to grow back out!”

To support his accusation Lance is holding up the slightly singed strands of his short fringe, barely side-stepping a pack of busy students packed with books heading for the near library. He didn`t even glance in the direction of the giggling girls passing them by, so this meant serious business.

“I could barely believe it the first three times you told me.”

Hunk`s mumbling goes unnoticed as Lance continues rambling on about “goddamn Mullet-ass” and “fucking firebender jerk”. The taller youth just heaves a long suffering sigh while he makes his way through the evening rush-hour crowd, being careful not to run into anyone with his bigger frame. The sun nearly ended its descent on the horizon all the while tinging the grey stone walls and the cobble underneath their feed a soft orange. Hunk normally loved this time of the day, when he wasn`t pressed between hordes of people on narrow streets while near shopkeepers screamed at them, advertising the best discounts and specialties you could only buy here. Hunk knew that you could get everything being praised here for more than half of its price in the district he and Lance shared an apartment, one of the reasons he was never big on going to the entertainment district. Plus he had a long day after university classes and four gruesome rounds in the Arena.

He blows some strands of his hair out of his face, his feed nearly killing him. The smell of burning clothes was still hanging in his nose, parts of his equipment falling victim to the same “fucking excuse for a firebender” his best friend was still passionately going on about.

Lance and him have been fighting as a team in the “Dragon`s Arena” for nearly three months now and truth be told haven`t been very successful with their water and earth bending combination so far. The arena was one of the bigger ones in Ba Sing Se, some decades before it seemed to be really popular, being frequently visited by benders and non-benders the same. Now the ranks where mostly empty, especially still early in the afternoon or evening when the nearly unknown fighters were having their battle-offs. The glorious days of the rumored bending heroes still taking their spectacular strifes serious, showing the audience how fearsome nature really can be long past.

Or at least that is how Hunk always imagined it to have worked as the Avatar and benders in general still had their respective roles to play in history. Now being born a bender has probably as much meaning as being born with the ability to touch your nose with your tongue. Wow, you can do this? Kind of cool, but also kind of gross dude, and two minutes later it will be forgotten.

Technic has reached a level where non-benders have no palpable disadvantage over benders anymore, bending even has become some kind of inconvenience at certain times. How often has Hunk felt like the literal elephant in the porcelain shop when he still was trying to cope with his bending abilities. Even the Avatar…well no one really has heard much about any Avatar in the past two generations, peace kind of made them unnecessary. So all bender skills have been reduced to attractions like a circus or betting like rabbitmull races. It still got one positive effect though: having an additional possible source for income. Becoming a popular team in the arenas or illegal fighting clubs could give you some sweet deals or land you in prison, one of the other.

So Hunk was at first not at all amused when Lance came up with the idea, leading to them standing in front of a dark, untitled and strongly suspicious staircase littered with questionable garbage and graffiti at 2 in the morning. Lance waving a slightly shaky hand in front of his face, his signature award winning smirk on his lips (not very convincing in this case), his voice tilting around a “Come on Hunk, what could possibly go wrong?” while Hunk`s chattering teeth filled the background with noises. Famous last words. After two blue eyes, some cracked ribs, and a night spent in holding together with a very unpleasant crowd of probably former jailbirds, Hunk`s lifespan was definitely cut by 10 years (and he learned a very delicious recipe for ashcookies from one of his firebending cellmates). He can`t remember how often he used the phrase “I told you so” in the following week on Lance. So they agreed to never try illegal (“I told you they are illegal, I knew it!” “Would you just cut it out already, Hunk?!”) fighting clubs again, no matter how much more money you could make with this. 

The arena on the other hand wasn`t completely pleasant either. A run down building located at the edge of Ba Sing Se`s heavily frequented entertainment district with ranks to hold at a maximum up to a 1000 people. It was not really in good shape, the fighting platform nearly falling apart and the water surrounding it to catch the fighters going out of it, well it smelled kind of funny and should definitely not have a greenish grey color. But it was one of the few bending fight arenas that hasn`t been shot down by the government up until now, even though the owner kept too much of their already slim price money, mostly more consolation money anyway, and the other competitors were just outright assholes. Hunk, in opposition to Lance, didn`t really like to use offensive language even when he feels attacked, but all the assaults on his best friend he really couldn`t tolerate.

They definitely weren`t superstars when it came to bending, would maybe barely pass as mediocre, still no reason to be offensive dude. And the locker rooms, good Spirits, the first time he entered them he wanted to throw up. They stunk worse than a wet hedgehogskunk that’s been dragged through the whole canalization of Ba Sing Se, probably hadn`t even seen an air freshener in decades. Lance actually did throw up as soon as he saw the showers. The worst were still the actual fights: Hunk liked using his bender abilities for something other than his engineering experiments for once and he could take a lot. Or that is at least what he thought in theory, before him and Lance were kicked out of their first round of competition in their ill-fitting armor after exactly 27.4 seconds, slurs of competitors and audience alike following them down in the water.

After that they started to seriously train more often or at least tried to as much as their packed schedule aloud them too. But being a broke college student in the biggest, and most expensive city in the world had you taking dumb risks, the reason they even ended in the arena and after that in the emergency room with a broken nose on Hunks side and first degree burns that Lance was too beat to heal by himself. So they improved quite a bit over the course of the last three months, having come from being kicked out in the first round to making it to the fourth, fifths or sometimes, with the Spirits own luck to round six and that all the while taking on other side-jobs. But there was where the problems really started and exactly where Lance`s current dilemma was lying.

Because a certain firebender, who by the way at this moment was leading all the charts at the arena and always, with no fail got them consequently competition after competition out of the ring in under 3 minutes. In Hunk`s humble opinion that was a big step forward, at the start he only needed 40 seconds.

“Who does this guy think he is?! If I would be a firebender I would have set his Mullet on fire the first time I saw him!”

 Hunk can only smile to himself at that. He actually has a rather high opinion of Keith aka the mullet bender as Lance has entitled him. The guy is actually pretty decent, compared to all the other fighters. Well Hunk doesn`t really know much about him, but he at least never commented on their personas and fighting styles in a bad way. At least not on Hunk`s part. But Lance and his competitive strike naturally saw the need to get into Keith`s face. Because “The best in the arena? Psh please, how good can that guy be?”

The bickering started out innocent enough, actually quite endearing, at least if you were familiar with Lance`s antics, but grew into for Hunk until this point unknown extents. Because what do you know, once something gets under Lance`s skin he is very bad at letting it go and as it seems Keith is just as hot-headed if not even more so seen as he still tries to keep up with Lance`s more or less inadequate insults. Hunk is just delighted that the two of them are only in the arena two days per week, otherwise Lance probably wouldn`t only have ended up with a singed fringe at this point.

“And now that jerks cashed in all the price money, again.” A small defeated sigh leaves Lance`s lips, the curve of his mouth turned into a pout, shoulders slumped in an exaggerated gesture of disappointment.

Hunk crooks his head to the side, breathing out of his nose shortly. This is still quite the unfavorable situation they are in.

“Will you be okay?” He tries to pack as much compassion in that statement as he can, trying to catch Lance`s eye. The other boy finally stops fussing with his hair and shoots him a smirk, putting his fingers under his chin.

“Aw come on Hunk, I`m always fine, right? How much money did we get for today anyway?” Money management always falls in Hunks hands, because well, Lance is just atrocious when it comes to that. He has to grimace slightly.

“Well, all in all about 368 bucks.”

As soon as the smile had crept up Lance`s face it falls along with his eyebrows, an incredulous look gracing his features. Normally it is quite the comical sight.

“Come on, you`ve got to be fucking shitting me?!” “Lance, language.” People are again looking at them as Lance let`s out an high whiny sound, ruffling his own hair. Then he claps a hand over his face and stops in his tracks, a middle-aged man nearly bumping into him from behind, making Hunk stop along with him. Then he starts calculating, mumbling under his breath while counting with his other hand. Hunk just looks on, a nearby shopkeeper nearly screaming into his ear how her dumplings are the best in the whole city, Hunk shoots her a dirty look. No one beats his grandma`s dumplings.

Lance groans once prolonged and looks him dead in the eye. “I have 74 yuan left, after I paid of my debts.” Then he starts walking again, passing Hunk by.

“You know, you don`t have to pay me back just yet and I also can take the rent this month!” “No, no, nope, no, you already did this the last two months!” “But Lance –“ “Nope” Lance voice is strong, got a commanding ring in it he can seldom muster, reserved for times when they talk about the best looking actress, fashion trends or the ocean. Times where there is just no discussing with him.

“I can pay you back for one rent. “ “I said, you don`t hav –“ “That`s a start, right? And if this asshole of a boss finally gives me the advanced payment he promised 2 _months_ before, I can maybe…” “You know the tuition fee is due til the end of this month, right?” Hunks mumbles, trying to make himself as small as possible. He didn`t really wanted to bring this up in the first place.

Lance stops moving, slowly turns. First his eyes are comically wide, but then they just kind of fall with his whole face.

“What” his voice is high-pitched and whiny “Well, that`s it! I`m officially screwed! My life ends here! Bye, bye Hunk, it was nice knowing and sharing an apartment with you!” Lance slumps dramatically on Hunks shoulder, sniffling a bit just for good measure.

If the situation wouldn`t have been this grave, Hunk would have laughed at his friends dramatic streak. “I still have 74 bucks left, that`s at least enough money to buy me booze…a lot of cheap booze. Or at least enough to forget that I´m a lonely and broke, yet unbelievably handsome, college student until tomorrow.”

Shortly Lance face transforms into that considerate expression he only ever gets when he`s planning something that`s seriously a bad idea, like using waterbending to clean their apartment kind of bad. “Do you think I could sell my ridiculously handsome body to make money? Like those waterbending dance shows in these bars?”

Hunk really tries his best not to grimace at the second-hand embarrassment that image alone is conjuring in his brain. “No wait, bad idea. It`s probably only gonna be old geezer that come to this kinda show…” he lets out a long suffering sigh. Hunk trying his best to console his friend lets one of his broad hands rest softly on his edgy shoulders.

“We`re gonna think about something tomorrow, after a good`s nights rest, huh?” An idea suddenly pops up in his head that is sadly entirely unrelated to the problem at hand, but could stop Lance from getting totally shitfaced on fire gin in their living room, again. Dealing with drunken Lance after he passed the first phase of giddiness is really in no way pleasant. Hunk shudders.

“Hey, I could bake you that seaplum cake you love that much, I only need- Oh shit!” Lance is jerking his head in his direction, surprise written on his features because his big, adorable friend only seldom used swearwords.

“I totally forgot! I had a meeting scheduled today with Pidge, you know, because of that project we`ve been working on lately!” He is getting more and more flustered by the minute. Looking at the time, he should have been at the university laboratory a long time ago, at least by Pidge standards. “Ow, I`m totally not up to that today. Man, still gotta run! So sorry Lance, I promise I make that cake tomorrow with extra whipped cream!”

Lance gives him a little half smile, waving goodbye as Hunk starts jogging in place.

“It`s okay, buddy! See you tonight then, I guess?” Hunk nods and starts weaving his way through the crowds to the nearest bus stop. When he shortly looks back to give Lance a last little wave, he is standing in the crowd, deflated and a sullen expression on his face, his hands in the pockets of his blue military styled jacket. He doesn`t have a good feeling about this, especially not letting Lance drown his sorrows in alcohol.

 

xXx

 

  The moment Hunk is gone, Lance let`s out another drawn-out sigh, stuffing his hands in his well worn jacket. He has been sighing a lot lately.

_Is there even anything you can do right, you sorry excuse for a bender?_

When he remembers that asshole Keith`s face looking down on him form the ring, a snarl securely in place, he clenches his fists. He has been humiliated on top of not winning any money that he so desperately needed right now, even after all that training he could afford to put in his bending besides university and his side job.

_Just give bending up entirely, the world would be such a better place if you would just do it this one favor._

He grumbles, sighs again and shrugs his jacket a bit higher against the still slightly cold spring air. Lance never really liked colder weather all that much, but at least winter is over. Hooray, one bright streak on the horizon! He starts making his way to the nearest station, long strides through the crowds while keeping his head down. Lance never really has a problem with crowds as long as he isn`t alone, as long as there is something to keep him occupied and his mouth running.

Sometimes after a long day that consisted of mostly failures and exhaustion, it is difficult, nearly impossible to dismiss his more self-conscious thoughts. To not look at people around him and imagine what they might be thinking about him, how they might be judging him. It is difficult to keep holding his head high.

Lance slowly starts to sway the fingers of his left hand in his pockets, feeling the gentle swish of the water bottle in his gym bag. He keeps fully concentrating on creating a little whirlpool, feeling the gentle drag and push of it to have himself occupied. A group of bulky guys around his age dressed in gym cloths is dragging past him, snickering all the while. He squeezes his eyes shut while trying to keep the bottle in his bag from bursting out of anxiety. He hates how in this moments he starts thinking about the absolute dumbest things concerning himself, like how the tight black trousers he wears are in fact not making him look drop dead gorgeous, showing of his perfect legs and nice ass as he always claims when talking to Hunk. No, in reality they are just showing more of his scrawny stature that he so desperately tries to hide with the hand-down bomber jacket, and are definitely not hiding the non-existent curve of his non-existent ass.  

Aaaaaand he is going down the self-pity drain again. He hates it. Making himself depressed, paranoid and anxious and he has enough of it. These thoughts are illogical, dumb, absolutely nonsensical and he knows it, he knows it. He groans, prolonged and pained, shutting his brain down for now. He really wished he could get one of those portable music players, the newest invention of Future Industries. A small square device that is able to play small records through enormous headphones that are as heavy as a rock armadillo, but considered immensely fashionable. They even were promoted by “Ba Sing Beat” one of the most popular fashion magazines for teens, the Spring 413 AG issue dubbing them as must have for this year. But as usual he just didn`t have the money to buy them with. To buy anything really. Why did he think going to university and studying astronomy was a good idea again?

 _Come one man, get a grip, you gotta smile for the world!_ Just as his Gran Gran always used to say when he came home crying from school: _Every frown on my gorgeous grandsons face is just a waste, smile the world in the face and that will hurt those boys bullying you more than any punch could. But a good water whip to the bottom also never harmed anyone, much._

Ah, he missed his Gran Gran. So plastering a smile on his lip he goes, humming a tune he heard in the radio on his night shift yesterday. When a flock of girls passes him, he smirks at them and winks, not because he is particularly interested just to get his groove back. And when they giggle at him, whispering to each other he just knows that wohoo, Lance you still got it. So he leisurely continues strolling down the road, all of his life choices shortly forgotten, the water in his gym back happily sloshing about. Until the bus stop comes in sight a good 10 meter before him, bus already waiting for boarding passengers and Lance runs to catch up.

But without advance warning a shock travels down his spine. He freezes, cold fingers slowly crawling up his back, stopping at his neck, a feeling of asphyxiation closing up his throat. His toes tingle. He looks around, panicked because he knows this feeling. His breath is coming shorter. Eyes roaming, but not able to focus. It`s a premonition. Then he looks into the bus.

A black swirling thing, it`s face obscured by something akin to a mask while it`s eyes are glowing yellow in the passing daylight is sitting right beside the driver on the console. It`s mouth distorts in a grotesque imitation of a grin. He stares. Zeroing on that face, the busy street shuts up, lights fading to a monochrome leaving him standing in a washed-out version of the world. He feels like throwing up. His hands are shaking he realizes like he is detached from his own body.

And then the feeling goes away as quickly as it came. And with it close the doors to the bus and it wooshes away right in front of his nose bringing back all the voices screaming around him.

Lance doesn`t particularly mind. He didn`t have money for the bus anyway, he belatedly realizes. So he lets out another short sigh stealing himself for the long walk downtown on his blistering feed. It was definitely getting to warm for his lionseal boots.

The prickling feeling down his neck doesn`t stop for a while, like it always does after an encounter from the spirit world.

He starts whistling.

 

xXx

 

When he reaches the supermarket across from his apartment the sky already had turned completely dark, some clouds brooding on the horizon. Maybe it would rain later one. Lance would really appreciate an early spring shower. He is still a bit shaken up by the Spirit meeting he had an hour ago, like a constant need to look around himself. The only big deed the last Avatar accomplished was to find a way to close the gates to the Spirit world again that Avatar Korra had opened some 200 years ago. It had become a problem, had been one for centuries before that but no one had found a solution for it. So many people had gotten lost in some parts of the other world while visiting it, like in the fog of lost souls, or were attacked or spirited away by malevolent Spirits that it could no longer be accounted for. The near destruction of a whole district of Republic City through a rampant ghost was the final straw it took to make the decision.

However, the reason why it was possible for Avatar Zarkon to close the gates again was never really found out and he took it to his grave when he died not short after. So with the separation most traces of the other side vanished from the human world, airbenders luckily stayed but other spirits and plants that made their way here had to go. So people thought their problems would have been solved, but nuh-uh Lance sadly knew from a young age onwards that it was not that easy. He always had the ability to see Spirits. How and why he had no clue, just as he didn`t know how it was possible for them to even be in the mortal world. What he knew was that he was afraid, because only the fewest he has seen so far had been nice to him.

Shaking his head, he walks the aisle of the little supermarket, searching for the strong, but cheap stuff in hope to forget the complete train-wreck this day has been so far. Hunk always keeps chastising him about how he will go blind one day when he keeps drinking that brew every time he tries to forget one bad experience or another. At least then Lance can remind him of that one time Hunk got absolutely shit-faced with the plum wine his mother had given him for his 17th birthday and how he had bend a giant piles of rocks in the middle of the road, climbing it and declaring for everyone to hear “I am the Avatar, king of the world!”. And then throwing himself down said pile in imitation of an airbender move he had seen on TV. Lance had nearly shit his pants because he laughed so hard.

He snickers at the memory of it, turning into a triumphant smirk when he finally spots the liquor aisle. He is short before grabbing the fire-gin (60% alcohol brewed in the same process since 156 AG) when he hears a very familiar frustrated grunt a few meters further down the aisle. He turns and sure enough there is a very familiar mullet with a very familiar frown securely in place leaned over the soda shelves. Lance can feel his blood starting to boil only by looking at the hot shot firebender 3 meters from him. While he is still rooted to the spot gaping at his (self-acclaimed) rival (because what is this guy doing in his favorite shop a minute from his apartment?!) two girls pass behind Keith, giving him that once-over, giggling all girly while batting their eyelashes and that guy has the audacity to not even turn around! Just keeps mumbling under his breath while scanning the shelf for the tenth time in as many seconds. The nerve!

Lance makes an affronted noise, grabbing his bottle and marching all puffing and huffing down the aisle. He is going to give that guy a piece of mind! Stupid Keith with his stupid mullet and stupid firebending and stupid muscles making the girls all swoon over him. And that stupid smirk of his whenever he kicks him out of the ring! And he still didn`t get revenge for his fringe, that guy owes him a new haircut, he so does.

When he reaches the firebender he breathes in. Alright Lance, you can do this all cool and suave. You`re better than him, you`re smooth. He leans against a shelf, plastering his patented smirk on his face. Keith face is scrunched up in a serious concentrated frown, leaning down to inspect the lower shelves with his bangs falling a bit in his eyes. He is only wearing a slightly tight black tank top and Lance really wonders how the guy doesn`t freeze with the temperatures out there and then he realizes oh yeah, firebender. Stupid firebenders. He clears his throat a bit artificially. His smirk only slipping a fraction when the guy still doesn`t seem to take notice of him. Ugh, fine then have it your way.

“What got your panties in a twist, mister jerkbender?”He drawls, his voice hopefully sounds just as full of spite and sarcasm as he imagines it. The other boy slowly turns his head, has to adjust his gaze a few centimeter above his sightline (which fills Lance with so much indescribable glee his smirk turns up in volume by 200%) and then he is giving him a look. Eyes all scrunched up, mouth set in a hard line and to Lance`s surprise Keith looks even grumpier than usual.

“What the hell is _your_ problem?”

Lance bristles. He really does, he can even feel the little hairs in his neck begin to stand up.

“What my problem is? Oh I don`t know, maybe someone forgot to apologize for, let`s say” he wildly flings one of his fingers in the direction of his short bangs, trying to bring the point across through staring all wide-eyed and accusing at the boy in front of him “ _this_!”

For a moment Keith doesn`t say anything, just scrutinizes Lance`s forehead with a serious frown. Then he meets his eyes, looking all grumpy again with his big bushy eyebrows nearly drawn together in the middle of his eyes. He crosses his arms.

“Look, dude, I don`t know what this is all about. If you just like to show your forehead to random people, or whatever. But I would really appreciate it if you would just leave me to search for my-“

“Whoa, wait wait wait! You`re trying to tell me you don`t remember burning off my perfectly styled hair?” Keith gives him another pointedly blank stare.

“Burned off? Where? Looks perfectly fine to me. Also am I supposed to know you?”

Okay, too far is too far! That guy can`t tell him that after 3 month, _3 whole month_ of constant bickering and fighting and kicking him out of the ring and all the burns and singed down armor he at some point stopped counting, he can`t remember who the fuck Lance is? There is a feeling of white-hot anger burning in his stomach, he wants to scream, scream in this stupid handsome face. Another feeling is settling deep in his insides, ugly, bitter and cold. Disappointment.

_I thought he would at least think I`m a worthy opponent at this point, but he doesn`t even remember my name. I`m a joke._

He shuts that thought up as soon as it came.

“Oh so you think you`re better than anyone else at the arena, huh? Don`t even make the effort to remember the names of the people attached to the butt`s you`re kicking! Or are you just too dumb to remember one person? Got only straw hiding under all that mullet, huh firecracker?” Lance gets all over in the other boys face, stabbing at him with one finger. There is a warm tingle in the tips of his fingers, a swirling in the back of his mind. The bottles next to them in the aisle begin swinging.

Keith`s eyes widen a fraction upon the last comment.

“Oh hell no, It`s you!” He leans in Lance personal space now too, pointing an accusing finger at the waterbender. Keith eyes go into slits when he is a mere 5 centimeters from Lances face.

 “That god damn idiot from the arena that never knows when to quit!” Lance makes a little affronted “Oh” noise, leaning up and out of Keith`s face to tower a little over him.

“Giving up and leaving all the stage and fame to you? The spectators deserve a real bending star, someone that`s not only talented, but also devilishly handsome and charming! They want some eye candy!” Lance desperately wills the smug expression to stay on his face while he tries to convince not only Keith but also himself of what he is boasting about. He crosses his arms, lifting his nose a little in the other direction as if to indicate _You`re not worthy of being graced by my attention_.

A snort from Keith and Lance smug expression falls.

“Eye candy, huh? They want to see some real fights and not just some sorry excuse for a second rate waterbender.”

Okay he has to admit, that kind of hurt. The swirling in the back of his mind grows stronger, a whirlwind of emotions slowly accumulating. He points the tip of his bottle at Keith, the liquid inside dangerously sloshing from side to side.

“Oh yeah? At least I know were to fire my attacks and not incinerate other people`s hair!”

Keith gets all in his face again.

“Oh really? If you can`t take getting yourself a little roughed up then you should relocate your battles to a beauty salon! I know a good one just down the street!”

This time Lance snorts.

“How the hell do you know a beauty salon? Your face doesn`t look like it ever was even in close proximity to one!”

A blatant lie, but whatever.

“That`s rich coming from you! Good that you wear a helmet while we`re fighting otherwise I would have fled months ago!”

Ouch.

“Lies! My beauty is untouchable! The helmet should be happy to have the privilege to be worn by a head like mine!”

“That doesn`t even make sense!”

“You don`t make sense!” He spits back, more out of defiance than anything else.

“And how stupid can you be, mullet! Because I think it was not the helmet obscuring this” Lance gestures to his face “perfection but you just having the memory span of a mud fly!”

A scalding breath of hot air is breathed into his face.

“Maybe you`re just not that memorable!”

That was low. Judging by the look on his face Keith also realized that. He snaps his mouth open and closed while something deep inside Lance is pulling itself painfully tied together.

“Man, I`m so-“

 “You are one of the most insensible, despicable and unfair people I`ve ever met!” It`s not really the truth, his normal voice in his brain reminds him. But he is angry, people say stupid things when they are angry.

Keith shies back, as if he was the one being burned, giving Lance an incredulous look.

“You`re the one starting these ridiculous fights!”

“Only because you provoke them!”

“Why in Spirits names would I provoke fights with someone like you?”

“Because you`re stupid, mullet brain!”

 “You stink like algae!”

“Your hair looks like something crawled on your head and died!”

“Ugly!”

“Dumb!”

“I hate you!”

“I hate you more!”

A loud deafening splash sound cracks through the air. And then both of them stand in the drink aisle soaked wet with sticky sweet soda. All of the cartons and plastic bottles burst open and dripping leftover liquid that hasn`t splashed on the both of them in the colors of the rainbow on the floor. People are standing on the other ends of the hallway staring wide-eyed at the bizarre spectacle, while Keith is incredulously looking down on himself. His loose light grey martial arts pants are soaked trough with some blood red punch.

Lance is gaping.

The glass bottle he has been holding slips from his hand, empty of its content with the cork popped, it smashes when it hits the floor. He abruptly lets out a high-pitched whiny sound.

“Aw man, not again!”

For a few painful seconds no one moves, not a single noise is made except the steady drip drip drip of the bottles next to them. Lance shortly wonders about how pretty all the different colors flowing and mixing on the floor are. Then Keith groans, long, loud and guttural. His heart sinks.

“How bad of a bender even are you?!”

Keith takes a step in his direction. He makes a grabbing motion for his collar. Lance always prided himself on his fast reflexes, he steps back, Keith fingers barely brushing his sweatshirt. That`s when it happens. He slips. Oh for fucks-

His ass makes hard acquaintance with the floor. He just has a second for his brain to catch up on the fact that he is not landing with a wet splash sound but on freezing tiles before Keith comes barreling into him from above. Their heads crack together audibly, both groaning while Keith keeps awkwardly hovering over him fighting for balance. After a few seconds he seems to get his bearings sitting back up on his knees still leaned over Lance.

“Did you just accidently freeze the floor?”

 “So what if I did? It happens sometimes, okay? When I`m nervous, or afraid, or, or-“ he sputters while his face keeps growing redder and the pitch of his voice keeps steadily rising higher. If someone would like to bend a stone on his head, it would be appreciated right now, please.

“Just how you accidently let every bottle in your close vicinity explode when you`re angry?” Keith voice is just dripping with sarcasm, but not the good kind. He probably doesn`t want to be funny right now.

Lance crosses his arms in front of him protectively. If someone would say he pouted later on, he would vehemently deny that claim. Keith just gives a non-comical grunt in his direction, slowly getting to his feed.

There is a commotion starting at the far end of the aisle, a deep voice shouting over the rest “What`s going on down there?”. The store manager, clad in a long green apron with a little cabbage car imprinted on it makes his way through the crowd. He lets out a loud irritated noise upon spotting the two of them in all of that disaster.

“Not you waterbenders again! I`m curious how you want to pay me back for this” He gestures to their mess, Keith following the direction of his hand as if it is the first time he laid eyes on it. “I`ll meet you two in my office, now!” He clomps away mumbling something about “god damn delinquent youth today!” and “why do they always have to fight it out in my store!” before he is out of sight.

Keith lets himself plop unceremoniously back on his butt with a loud groan.

“All I wanted was a mountaincherry soda.” Then he gives Lance a seething glare.

With another high-pitched whine Lance falls down on the floor, his arms draping over his eyes. He would really like to cry right about now. Why does the universe hate him?

 

xXx

 

Keith lets out a fiery scream, sparks raining down in front of him. Concentrating all of his energy in his fists he is letting fireballs fly into the cooling night air from his alternating punches. He moves into a spinning upwards kick, dragging flames along the tip of his left food with it. It has been half an hour since he started half-heartedly going through his nightly training routine, emphasis being on half-heartedly. He was furious, burning from the inside even more than normal. His temper flaring, hot and dangerous. He can feel his scalding skin, steaming while in contact with the freezing night air. A cocky grin flashes before his inner eye and he lets out another roaring fire scream.

That stupid idiot waterbender. Another punch. Why did he always have to start idiotic fights over nothing? A high kick. What did Keith ever do to deserve this? Another kick moving into a squat. He riles him up so god damn much! An axe kick. With his stupid big mouth that never shuts up. Another fire ball flying from his fist. And his stupid pretty blue eyes. He falters.

Keith roars, a breath of scalding air escaping him. He drops into a squat going for a burning foot sweep, the flames licking at his skin. Then he plops down onto his butt, the last flames flicking out of existence leaving him sitting hunched over in the half dark.

Just fuck his routine, he already foregone most of it in favor of just randomly throwing out punches at imaginary waterbending idiots. That stupid Lance guy. He already hated his guts the first time they met on the ring. A cocky second-rate waterbender only in the arena for a few days challenging him in the most pompous way possible.

_You`re the best bender in this arena, huh? Don`t look like much! Bet`cha I can kick your scrawny ass to the Southpole! Whaddya say, hot shot?_

Keith had laughed it off back then, kicking _Lance_ scrawny butt into the freezing water of the ring with an “ _Oh yeah? Better luck next time, newbie!”_ and walked out, followed by gurgling screams down from the water. That was the first time he had taken an insult to his hair, he checked himself in the mirror of the locker rooms after that.

And he really thought that`s where it would end, he had shown him his place and for the most part new benders in the arena would stop questioning Keith`s skills at this point. Or at least at the second or third try.

But no, not Lance. Not the guy with the self-confident stance, the secure smirk (which was all Keith could make out under the arena prescribed mask), the snarky voice and the high-pitched screams Keith really learned to enjoy after the first few times they fought. And that guy was like a really bad case of the swamp pox, because he came back and back and back with his goading and bad nicknames. And it made Keith furious, because how in Spirits names can the guy still be this self-confident after all the beatings he has taken? How can he not get that there is a time to just give up and let it go? If you can`t be serious about the fights, you should just quit it all together.

But after a few weeks, Keith saw it. He saw the improvement, the amount of training going into it. It was a gradual change, but it was there. So the first time an icicle landed square in his face, scratching his cheek he was more than a little surprised. Judging by the way Lance halted in his tracks he must have been too. In his ensuing victory dance, Keith`s ring partner (a very reticent airbender by the name Wang, but responsible so Keith wasn`t complaining) kicked him out of the ring with a simple wind swoop. Keith was a bit intrigued, even if it wasn`t for the level of skill and technique Lance showed, because in Keith`s frank opinion he had none. No it was because of the surprising accuracy and fighting spirit Keith had experienced in the course of two months. And finally, after nearly 2 years in the ring Keith felt some kind of challenge again, a tug at his competitive streak that hadn`t been there in ages. Not since Shiro had left his position as his partner.

From then on Keith had to be cautious, more and more icy and razor sharp projectiles flying a bit closer to landing their target than comfortable. But with their actual fights growing in intensity, their verbal exchanges before the match also gained in vigor. The ring leader, an ugly slimy guy and asshole par excellence, even once told him that some spectators only came for their banter and that he should keep up the good work. Keith didn`t like that. Yes he was very awkward when it came to human interaction and often had his foot in his mouth, but he prided himself to be an honest (brutally so) human being that had no interest in offending people in any way. With Lance he always said things he didn`t mean, things that left his mouth in the heat of the battle.

_Like telling him he is ugly. How can you call the guy ugly, after seeing that beautiful tan skin and those pretty blue eyes..._

Keith heaves a sigh.

Lance brings out the worst in him.  

All he really wanted today was to get his favorite sour mountaincherry soda with the limited Nuktuk

stickers and maybe some of the brilliant meat buns the little old lady on the street corner is selling every Wednesday. Today was a special day after all, his 500th arena winner title in succession. But no, instead that idiot had to start a fight in the store, finally leading to Keith sitting on the cold stone floor with his second-favorite trousers (he only had three) sticking disgustingly sweet to his skin and an empty stomach. On top of that nearly all of his hard earned money from today`s arena fights was lost while repaying the store for the broken bottles, because Mister pompous only carried 74 yuan with him ( _“I`m gonna pay you back, okay? I swear!” “And when will that be?” “When I have the money?” “Why did that sound like a question?” “Okay look, you jerk, I don`t know yet!”_ ). While trying to clean up the idiot even managed to get most of the milk cartons to explode and splash nearby customers with the result of their fight ( _“Why do you think using waterbending to clean up would be working when your waterbending brought us in this whole mess in the first place? Pass me the mop!” “I just can`t control it when your ugly mullet is distracting me!”_ ). Keith already knew everything was heading downhill when they were sold out of the limited Nuktuk addition.

He controls his breathing, huffing out a little puff of hot air to get warm again. Firebender or not the chilly early spring air was still too cold if you were only clad in a thin tank top. He really had to do laundry. His sweat from working out was already growing cold, his skin and clothes being all damp and he felt gross. In addition to that the sticky sweat smell still clinging to his pants slowly made his empty stomach nauseous. It was getting late anyways so Keith heaves himself up, carefully making his way out of the cave-like structure he called his training ground.

Some years after Avatar Korra had opened the doors to the Spirit world, giant trees and unnatural wild-life had started to grow all over the Republic, not only it`s capital. Creepers and trees had taken over many buildings, overgrowing them, leading to a lot of people abandoning these houses. In some districts the poor moved in, normally homeless, in others they were left in peace for the spirits to build their homes inside, people rearranging their lives around them. After The Closing 33 years ago most of these plants slowly started to die and decay, falling apart because they were separated from their source of energy. People started to avoid these places, not only because they were seen as a bad omen but also in danger of falling debris. Keith used that to his advantage. An abandoned place with a lot of space and no one passing by or able to look in? It was perfect for a training ground and yes, maybe a bit dangerous, because you could never know when the giant tree over it would finally start to tumble, Shiro always reminded him of that.

But where else should you train your fire bending, which was viewed by the majority of non-benders as the most dangerous and aggressive style of bending and therefore its use in public was mostly prohibited by government orders. Keith had a lot of frustrating encounters with either the police or some street gangs when he was still a child or later teenager, asking him politely or less politely to relocate his bending to well, I don`t know out of town? Or maybe just stop altogether, my boy, you are still young there are so many things you could do with your life instead! How about board games?

Keith had always sneered in their faces. He was good at bending. It was what he did best and wanted to do in his life. He loved it. Not his problem when the rest of the society couldn`t cope with his lifestyle. In his opinion this whole non-bending policy was a farce, there was a scheme behind all of the government decisions but he had no evidence and everyone only always laughed about him and his theories. You benders, always trying to own one up to us normal people, am I right?

He grumbles under his breath while walking back to his apartment in the dark. He keeps his head down and his hands in his pockets, because there are a lot of strange people lurking around this part of town at night, so much for getting an apartment in the cheapest part of the city just because you can`t afford it otherwise. And also so much for their great government, going on about equality for everyone when you can´t really make a living of off your bending skills and bandits and mafia aren`t really a seldom sight in the darkest part of town.

A loud crash to his right alarms him, his head flying in the direction of the noise. He is already in his fighting stance when he hears laughter and sees three teenager chasing each other through the allies. Two of them let little rocks fly in the direction of the third one, making gun noises all the while hitting random junk in the streets. The last one is deflecting their rocks with gushes of wind, forming exaggerated woosh sounds with her mouth. She shouts “You will never get me! I am the almighty Avatar!” just as a rock hits her square in the forehead. She goes down and Keith stops with the two boys leaning over her, ready to check on the girl. But then she starts giggling on the ground, rubbing her head while one of her companions chuckles “So much about that, mighty Avatar.” They laugh and Keith smiles a little to himself, reminded of a childhood spend similar to them.

He starts moving again, their little Avatar play reminding him of the letter from his brother on his kitchen table. In two days the selection for Shiro`s mission is finally getting started. Keith really can`t wait to finally have a set goal, a real target to pursue.

 _Well_ , he thinks, _sorry Lance and Hunk but I won`t be able to fight you for some time._

And won`t be able to see those pretty blue eyes again, for a long time.

He doesn`t continue that train of thoughts.

 

xXx

    

When Hunk finally reaches their apartment door for today, he is ready to keel over. He can`t really feel his feet anymore and his back is killing him, not even mentioning his empty stomach. He hasn`t eaten for a good 8 hours, his vision slowly going blurry from all the work he had done today. He is close to tears when he thinks about their empty fridge and how he forgot to go shopping for groceries. He whimpers a little.

Pidge had stared him down when he finally arrived at the laboratories, nearly a good hour too late. He was normally never late, so it was not only frustrating for him, but he was so sorry for Pidge`s wasted time (and also slightly intimidated by her). She just stood there, her arms crossed over her chest, the artificial light of the sterile room reflecting of her big round glasses so there was no way to make out her expression, but it was probably not good. Hunk had gulped audibly. When he had started to beg and whimper a little, stuttering a strung of apologies she had winked her hand dismissively and then punched him in the arm, when he least expected it. And really for such a tiny adorable person that girl packed a mighty punch.

“It`s okay you big doofus. Now come look at the improvements I made, while you were humoring Lance. This is gonna be so awesome!” She got all excited and sparkly eyed, like always when they were working on a new prototype and Hunk breathed a sigh of relief and smiled to himself thinking how much he adored Pidge as a friend.

Five minutes in their work she had told him he stinks. His smile had grown resigned from that on. Smelling himself only confirmed, that yikes man he was gross. Lance would have already flooded him with a water fountain at this point if he would have had the opportunity. Hunk never really understood that boy`s obsession with hygiene. Waterbender, he mused.

Hunk and Pidge were momentarily working on the prototype of a flying machinery that in a few years, if everything in development worked out, should be able to be used as a space airplane. It was an idea first worked on by Pidge`s father, but when he got too busy with actual development work for the government it was passed down to Pidge. Future industries had been working on a similar concept for military uses centuries ago, but when the official military was disbanded the money stopped flowing and these kinds of projects were written off as unimportant.

“These people are all idiots” Pidge had wailed, her hands flying up “most of the technology those lazy non-benders live off today was all invented because of war! If the fire nation would have never tried to take over we would still merrily earthbend our way around the world!” “ You know that you are a non-bender yourself? Also a lot of people died be-“ “Sacrifices have to be made for the technological process!” a motor had exploded into her face at that exact moment, effectively burning off her eyebrows. They had to regrow for two month. Lance had dramatically screamed “Sacrifices have to be made!” in her face at every inappropriate moment at that time. She had shaved half of his eyebrows of when he was asleep.

Their problem was they were only university students working on these projects either for their grades or out of personal interest. They had no access to the newest technology in development that would be necessary for their pet project to work. Pidge had tried to work her way around the security system of future industries a dozens of times, the only reason she was not already arrested was because her father works for them. And because doing excursions to outer space was not deemed important as long as there were still so many unexplored things on their earth there was no real progress in this field, plus it was dangerous.

Hunk kind of always wanted to go to outer space and research other planets geological property when he had learned that Toph Beifong, his biggest childhood hero had started metal bending because of extraterrastial rocks she and her friends had found. So he had started studying aero engineering, a relatively new major at the Ba Sing Se university roughly at the same time Lance went into astronomy. Sadly leaving both of them very unsatisfied, because these courses of studies are very small, unpopular and rarely find new insights on their field of study. Especially astronomy is based on a lot of theories that are even older than Zosins comet, leaving Lance sitting on the roof of their apartment building at night with his telescope and staring out at the stars as if they could literary tell him the answers he is looking for.

But Hunk is okay with it, for the most part, that is how he met Pidge after all and that is why he is mostly working on their own projects and not what their professors are teaching them about. Plus after learning about all the aspects of universe and space travel that were still deemed risky (which were about 80% of it) he was not too sure he still wanted to go into space. Physically at least. Life threatening danger didn`t sound all that appealing.

But all that working for his passion also has its down sides, mainly trying to keep your eyes open while listening to Pidge´s endless explanations about how this improvement will bring them so much further in their research. Today Hunk was just not really receptive anymore. After the third time he got a light electric shock from dozing off while tinkering with their machine, Pidge told him to get the fuck home if he is just being useless. Hunk knows she doesn`t mean it seriously, it is just her way of showing that she loves him.

“Ah yeah, before I forget this” she had halted him in his tracks out the door, rummaging in her backpack. “Here, a friend of mine is searching for bending test subjects for a project I also worked on. She is paying royally well, those rich bastards…could save your asses, right?” She didn`t even look up from her work while handing him the flyer, but he could hear the smug tone in her voice. Hunk scanned it.

“140 yuan per hour?! Oh my god Pidge, that is, I don`t even have words for this!” He clutched the flyer to his chest wishing at his eyes and finally enveloping the little girl in a tight one-armed bear hug. Pidge had screeched.

“But you know, this is just the selection test. There is no way to say certainly you two will make that, with your horrendous bending…let`s not call it skills. And it starts in two days.”

Hunk had squinted at the flyer again. Then he gulped. A nervous feeling fluttering in his stomach.

“I think that, well maybe, with a lot of luck-“

“The Spirits own luck.”

“And a lot of enthusiasm-“

Pidge snorted.

“And a blind judge, Lance could make it.”

Pidge had given him a look over the rim of her glasses.

“Anyway Lance will have at least something to distract him from his moping. I owe you one batch of the special cookies!”

“With peanuts?” He nodded vigorously.

“Then make that two batches!”

Hunk had laughed and left in slightly higher spirits than he had come. The good news being actually the only thing that still kept him standing upright. He leaned against their door now, listening inside the apartment. He could hear gentle music playing behind the door, but no wailing Lance. Maybe he was not as drunken as he normally got on these nights. It was actually not really that often, Hunk just was worried about all of his friends _(“You`re worse than a lizardhen mother, you know that?” He had shrugged with a smile_ ).

Hunk slowly opened the door, peeking inside. He called his friend quietly, tentatively. No reaction. It was completely dark. He frowned. Slowly opening the door he moved inside, grimacing when he got rid of his painfully tight boots. Then he stood there in the small hallway, pinching his eyes together to be able to make things out in the darkness, the flyer still clutched against his chest. Soft koto music filled the room, reminding him of the ocean. And he thought Oh oh, Lance`s depressed music.

“Lance…?” He called again, slowly.

A sniffle. Oh no. That`s definitely not a good sign. He slowly moved in their little living room, the light of the street lanterns casting a soft glow inside the room while the moon was covered by clouds. There on their ratty old hand-down couch laid Lance, boots, jacket and everything still on, most of his legs hanging of the far side of the too small sofa. His favorite polar bear dog stuffed animal was securely clutched against his chest. He sniffled every few seconds. There was a tug at Hunks heart upon that pitiful sight. There had to be something seriously wrong with his best friend if he was already at this point. Hunk started to kneel down next to Lances form on the couch, his hand going to his friend`s hair to sooth through it. Lance was staring at the ceiling with half-lidded dark eyes. Hunk scrunches up his nose upon coming close to Lance. He smelled strange, like chemical sweetness, a stark contrast to his nice flowery shower gels and shampoos.

“What happened to you?” Hunk asked, trying to give his voice a soothing and soft quality.

There was silence for a moment.

“Don`t wanna talk about it…” came the mumbled response.

“Want a hug?” Lance slowly nodded his head, but didn`t move otherwise.

Hunk sat back, opening his arms wide and waiting for impact. Ten seconds later Lance comes crushing into him, stuffed animal, stinking cloth, full body weight and all. At first Hunk just squishes him against his chest while Lance starts sniffling in his shirt. But then he hears the tell-tale crunch of the flyer at his chest being crumpled up.

“Oh, wait” Lance leans back a little, looking at him with droopy eyes. “Wha`sis?” He slurs.

Hunk holds up the crumbled flyer.

“A way for you to stay my roomie!” He says with a broad smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it so far and see you soon~
> 
> (The currency I used for this fic is chinese Yuan, having an exchange rate of about 1 Dollar x 6)


End file.
